SEPP BLATTER

Rio de Janeiro: Football legend Pele has lent his support to the re-election bid of FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Blatter, 79, will vie for a fifth four-year term in charge of football's governing body at an election on May 29, reports Xinhua.
"I'm going to be clear. I support Sepp Blatter because...

FIFA president Sepp Blatter visited Qatar's emir on Sunday and said that while progress has been made in improving workers' rights in the 2022 World Cup host nation, more still needed to be done.
"It is encouraging to hear the emir's personal commitment to workers' welfare and to get a sense...

London: Chelsea have suspended three people from their Stamford Bridge stadium following an investigation into a racist incident, captured in amateur video footage on the Paris metro, the club said on Thursday.
The video appeared to show fans of the London team chanting "we're racist and that's the way we like...

London: David Beckham has welcomed former Real Madrid teammate Luis Figo's bid to unseat Sepp Blatter, saying FIFA needs candidates "passionate about the game."
Figo is the only former player standing in May's election, which also features FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein and Dutch football association chairman Michael van...

Zurich: The FIFA presidential election will officially be a four-candidate campaign.
FIFA says its election oversight panel validated the proposed candidacies of four-term president Sepp Blatter and his three rivals.
They are: Michael van Praag of the Netherlands, former Portugal great Luis Figo and FIFA Vice President Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of...

Zurich: FIFA have confirmed that incumbent Sepp Blatter, former Portugal forward Luis Figo, Dutch FA president Michael van Praag and Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan have bid to stand for president.
Soccer's governing body said in a statement that the four would be subject to integrity checks carried out by...

Berne: FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne is out of the race after failing to win sufficient backing for his bid, saying that national associations feared "reprisals" if they supported him.
Champagne, needing the backing of five national associations for his bid, said in a statement that he had won the backing...

Sydney: FIFA chief Sepp Blatter often talks about being the head of the "football family" but if the boos that greeted his appearance at the Asian Cup final on Saturday are anything to go by, he is not too popular with his Australian cousins.
The Swiss, who is expected to win...

Geneva: Beating the entry deadline by hours on Thursday, Sepp Blatter formally joined a FIFA presidential contest he is widely expected to win.
Blatter published a low-key message on Twitter confirming an expected bid to extend his scandal-scarred, 17-year leadership of football's wealthy governing body by four more years.
"Today is a...

Zurich: FIFA President Sepp Blatter confirmed that he had submitted his bid to run for re-election on Thursday, the deadline day for nominations to be handed in.
"Today is a key date in the electoral calendar. I've made my submission, now the electoral committee follow a process," the 78-year-old said on...

London: England's failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup "was by far the strongest contender", FIFA official Harold Mayne-Nicholls was quoted as saying on Sunday.
"How could England have only got two votes? It was a big surprise," Mayne-Nicholls was quoted as saying in The Sunday Times.
The 53-year-old, a former...

Marrakech: Defiantly declaring that FIFA is no longer in crisis, Sepp Blatter said Friday the decision to hold the next two World Cups in Russia and Qatar won't be revoked and that the governing body will publish a confidential probe into the process that picked those countries as hosts.
The decision...

A defiant FIFA President Sepp Blatter said there would be no moving the 2022 World Cup from Qatar, despite widespread concerns about the bidding process that took the tournament to the Middle East for the first time.
"2022, it is Qatar, and ladies and gentleman, believe me, with all that has...

Zurich: World soccer's governing body FIFA on Tuesday lodged a criminal complaint over the "possible misconduct of individual persons" in connection with the awarding of hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Last Thursday FIFA said there were no grounds to reopen the controversial bidding processes, following a long-awaited...

Moscow: FIFA President Sepp Blatter has revealed the logo for the 2018 World Cup in Russia - with the help of a crew of cosmonauts.
The logo depicts the World Cup trophy in red and blue, colors from the Russian flag, with gold trim.
Unveiling the logo on a Russian state TV...

UEFA president Michel Platini hit out at FIFA chief Sepp Blatter on Friday, saying the Swiss has stopped serving the cause of football.
"Sepp is not the president of FIFA anymore. He is FIFA," Frenchman Platini, whose book "Let's Talk About Football" was released this week, told sports daily L'Equipe.
"Platini, Pele,...

The away goals rule used for settling the outcome of two-legged knockout ties has "fallen behind the times" and needs rethinking according to FIFA president Sepp Blatter. The method under which the team that scores the most goals away from home wins the tie was introduced in the mid-1960s.
It replaced...

Zurich: Funded with $27 million of FIFA money, the movie "United Passions" is acquiring almost mythical status in football circles.
Mythical in the sense that the film, which was shown at the Zurich Film Festival on Sunday, has not been seen by many, and its relationship to documentary truth about FIFA's...

The head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has pledged his support for FIFA president Sepp Blatter in next year's election at which the 78-year-old Swiss is expected to win a fifth term as soccer's most powerful administrator.
After UEFA president Michel Platini ruled out taking on the incumbent FIFA boss,...

Soccer's governing body FIFA has agreed to ban the third-party ownership (TPO) of players, its president Sepp Blatter said on Friday, seven years after first promising to outlaw the practice.
Blatter said a working group would be set up to implement the ban which would come into effect following "a transitional...

Soccer's governing body FIFA has an exemplary ethics setup unmatched by any other sports organisation, its president Sepp Blatter said on Friday.
"Since the reforms, we have had an exemplary organisation in ethics... we have two chambers... with independent chairmen," Blatter told the World Summit for Ethics in Sports.
"We are the...

Former FIFA official Jerome Champagne formally announced on Monday that he will stand against incumbent Sepp Blatter in next year's election for president of the world soccer body.
"I have the honor of informing you that I have just written to the FIFA adhoc Electoral Committee and its president, Mr. Domenico...

Panama City: FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said he is against the use of video replay during games because it takes away the essence of football.
Valcke on Thursday praised the use of goalline technology, which helps referees determine whether the ball actually crossed the goal line as it was brought...

Manchester: FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Monday he wants to start trials on giving coaches the right to "challenge" referee decisions during a match.
The system, backed by television monitors, could be tried at the Under20 World Cup in New Zealand next year and Blatter said he would like to...

Sepp Blatter will stand for reelection as FIFA president next year, he confirmed on Monday.
The 78yearold Swiss, who was first elected in 1998, confirmed his candidature for a fifth term as president in a recorded interview transmitted to delegates at the Soccerex Global Convention.
"You see a mission is never finished....

FIFA will host its first consultation meeting next week to agree dates for playing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA says its six confederations plus clubs, leagues and players' unions from around the world will be represented at talks led by Asian Football Confederation President Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim al...

New Delhi: In a bid to awaken the "sleeping giant" of world football, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has called India "another market" for the beautiful game and endorsed the upcoming franchisebased Indian Super League (ISL).
Blatter, during a visit to the country in 2007, had termed India a "sleeping giant and...

Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Sunday symbolically handed over the World Cup to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, whose country will host the 2018 tournament.
The two leaders were joined by FIFA president Sepp Blatter for the ceremony inside the legendary Maracana Stadium before the GermanyArgentina final in Rio...

Rio de Janeiro: FIFA president Sepp Blatter has rated Brazil's organisation of the World Cup as 9.25 out of 10.
Speaking during a World Cup media debriefing on Monday, Blatter revealed the body had used social media to gauge the tournament's success,as reported by a news agency.
"We have improved on four...